Naruto: NarutoxReader, Study Buddy
by compactdisc66
Summary: Another fanfic. Continuing.
1. Chapter 1

From my seat in the back of the classroom, I saw Naruto rush in, his arms waving wildly as he skidded to a stop right in front of the teacher. "I apologize sensei for being late," here he bowed low, "but I was doing important stuff on the way here!"

Sensei stopped him there. "Naruto, please take the empty seat in the back," he said, pointing to the seat next to me. He watched disapprovingly until Naruto had finished jumping up the steps to plop heavily down in the chair. I groaned in my mind, knowing today was going to be a long, loooooong day. Naruto was grinning from ear to ear, leaning over towards me to whisper, "Hey! What page are we on?"

I turned my book to him without speaking so he could see the number of the page, and he nodded enthusiastically. "Thanks! And thanks for letting me sit next to you!" he whispered loudly.

I smiled at him. "You're most welcome," I said. But Naruto was staring at me so intently that my smile faltered. He seemed in a trance. "Are you ok?" I asked uncertainly. He nodded but didn't speak, only burying his nose in the textbook so that his face was hidden from me. That was strange. He never even opened his book once that whole year, let alone read it. Shaking my head, I turned back to my own textbook and focused on what sensei was teaching.

After classes, I packed my things into my small shoulder bag. Naruto piled his books and set them in his lap. Instead of rising to leave, he stared at his desk, fidgeting in his seat. I glanced at him curiously before standing and proceeding to the lower level to the classroom. He followed me down, not in his usual jumpy, wild manner, but step by step, one at a time. Sensei waited at the door for me, a smirk on his face.

"Sensei?" I asked nervously. That smirk always meant he was up to something.

"You and Naruto are now study partners," he said. He continued quickly before my brain could register what he'd said. "Since Naruto seems to work excellently when partnered with you, you two will work together during and after classes to help him keep up." And with that he rushed out of the room, leaving my mouth hanging open.

Naruto giggled behind me and put a strong, muscular arm around my shoulder. "You hear that?" he said, still smiling like a jack-o-lantern. "We're gonna be study buddies! You excited?"

I forced myself to smile at Naruto, thinking that it couldn't possibly be that bad. But Naruto did that... THING again. The staring-at-my-face thing again. I stared back, wondering what to do, when suddenly I was being engulfed by his hug, staring over his shoulder. "I'm glad we're gonna study together!" he said, his words muffled slightly. I slowly hugged him back, smiling for real at his innocence and excitement.

"Yeah," I said, giggling. "Me too."


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto pulled me by the hand through the forest on the well beaten path. He seemed very excited to be seeing my house, even though it definitely wasn't anything special. Though he did not know the way, the path was quite visible and there was no need to ask. As we kept travelling, however, the path grew more and more difficult to find, shrubbery and trees crossing into it. Naruto would ask every once in a while where to go, glancing back at me and smiling widely, and I would reply with a half smile and trying not to trip as we ran.

"Aahh!"

He stopped so suddenly that I ran into his back. It was quite muscular, and he was surprisingly tall when I stood so close.

He flipped around and looked me over worriedly. "Are you ok?" he asked, going a hundred miles an hour. "I'm sorry I stopped so fast, I was just happy to be at your house finally!" He smiled as though this were like defeating God Himself.

I smiled and pushed past him, pulling him towards the small house nearly hidden as much as the path leading to it. "It's definitely not much," I called as we jumped up the steps to the door, "but it works for me." I fumbled for the rusty old key in my pocket and opened the white door in need of a paint job. The entire house could use a paint job, I thought as I walked through the dark, naturally-lit, small living room, joined to the dining room by the kitchen. I didn't turn to face Naruto because I was so embarrassed of the small place. His must be so much better, bigger, more like a real house. Leading him to a small chair in the living room, I ran to the kitchen to get some snacks and drinks.

"This is a great place you have!" Naruto shouted from the living room. His bright orange hair and giddily curious eyes popped from behind the doorway. "It's amazing! I've never seen anything like it!"

I smiled shyly, handing him some pocky and walking him back into the living room. "It's really small, but it works, you know?" I sat on the floor, and instead of taking the chair, Naruto plopped down rather close next to me. His eyes wandered over everything in the room with a sort of wonder and wild excitement. I'd never seen anyone look at my house this way. Then again, no one had ever been to my house.

I fingered with the ends of my skirt nervously, acutely aware of the old, antique-looking living space. "So do you want to study out on the porch?" I asked him, staring at my worn carpet. "It's brighter out there and we have more space..." My sentence faded off with my confidence to continue.

Naruto looked at me curiously. "We can study outside if you want," he said in a confused voice. "But inside it's so much cozier. I love this place!"

I blushed. My house? Loved by anyone else but myself? And even that was just barely cutting it.

We studied outside in the sunlit, tree-filled exterior, laying on the porch and quizzing each other. It was quite enjoyable, to my surprise. There was much contagious giggling from Naruto, which I soon joined into. But whenever I smiled, Naruto would freeze up and stare, until I wondered if my teeth were broken or stained or something.

When he finally did it for the seventh time (yes, I had been counting), the sun was low in the sky behind the canopy of green, invisible and yet the only illumination, upon which our eyes depended greatly. "Naruto, why do you stare at me when I smile?" I asked, self-consciously rubbing my bottom lip. "Is there something wrong with my teeth?"

He stopped smiling and his expression turned to shock instead. His spiky hair lit up like a firework or an explosion of colour, so bright it was difficult to look at. The deep, clear, sea-blue of his eyes overwhelmed me. The combination of the two totally opposite colours was so unexpectedly beautiful that I almost forgot the current conversation. His voice brought me back to reality.

"Y-you think you're teeth are stained?" he asked, a smile tugging at his lips and his eyes squinting with delight. It caused me to blush. Was he making fun of me now? "No, your smile is perfect! I've never seen anything so perfect or beautiful or..."

He faltered, a blush creeping along his face. I smiled again, slowly but filled with happiness. "Naruto," I began, "I know you don't really have anywhere to call 'home'... so... why not stay here? Since we're study partners and all..."

His smile widened, and that incredibly joyful face returned, filled with light. "That sounds great!" he exclaimed.


	3. Chapter 3

...

"SHNGAAAAAUUUUUHHHHH..."

...

...

"SHNGAAAAAUUUUUHHHHH-"

I sleepily opened my eyes to see Naruto's wide-open mouth staring me in my face. It was still quite dark in the small room, with only the first morning light peeping through the window. Or it might have been the moon. I had no idea, but rolled over on my futon to face the other way, feeling my shoulderblades scrape across the wooden floor. I stared at the small, thoroughly used dresser underneath the window on my side, listening to the loud snores of my new roommate. I heard Naruto shuffle, and suddenly felt a finger graze my back. Stiffening at the touch, I knew tonight I was definitely not sleeping. Tomorrow, as soon as he was awake, I was moving Naruto and his things into the guest bedroom. The abandoned house had only two, so when visitors came to stay they would sleep according to gender.

My mind was thinking too hard. With sleep being impossible, I stood and grabbed my stuffed panda bear off the chair in the corner before stumbling into the kitchen, yawning all the way through the hallway. Flipping the light switch on and walking to the tiny two-person table by the large window stretching across the wall, I plopped into a chair and set the panda down. I had yet to think of a name for him. He'd been in my life a while, but nothing I thought of seemed to suit him.

While I stared out into the night (and discovering that it was indeed moonlight and not sunlight), I heard Naruto groaning and turned to see him shuffling to the second seat. His hair exploded into all different directions, and his eyes were just barely open to guide him to the dark wooden chair. He rubbed his eyes in a cute manner, and I smiled unknowingly.

"Naruto," I whispered, "if you're tired you should be in bed."

He shook his head and yawned. "I saw you weren't there," he mumbled. After a few seconds his eyes rested on the panda on the table between us. He turned it to face him, asking, "What is this?"

I blushed, feeling silly. "It's a stuffed panda I received from a family member a while ago. I can't decide on a name for him. So far I've just called him 'panda'." I played with the edge of the table nervously. That sounds so stupid. I still have stuffed animals... But they brought me comfort, and if he was going to live with me now, Naruto would find out anyway.

Naruto rested his chin on the table's edge, staring into the panda's giant green eyes. A few minutes of later, he broke the silence. "He looks like an 'Odayaka' to me," he whispered, his eyes drooping with sleep.

Odayaka. I paused to think about the new name. Of course. It fit perfectly.

Naruto's eyes were closing. He would catch a cold if he fell asleep out here. "Naruto, let's get you back to bed," I said, taking Odayaka in one hand and pulling Naruto up with the other. He only followed as I dragged him back to the dark room and lay him down on his futon. But suddenly I found myself and Odayaka stuck in his hug. He was asleep, unconscious of his actions, and yet he was still this strong! There was no escape from this sleepy cuddling, no matter how hard I tried to get out.

But Naruto interrupted my struggles. He cuddled me closer like a giant bear, and whispered, "Please don't go back to the kitchen... I couldn't sleep when you left..."

And so I stopped resisting and turned to see the most adorable smile on his face in the moonlight. His face resting on my shoulder, the spiky red hair pointing every which way... So I smiled, brought Odayaka closer to me, and snuggled into Naruto.

I was wrong. Sleeping that night was easy.


End file.
